Triple-S
Launched in December 2008, Sustainable Services at Scale (Triple-S) is an initiative that seeks to identify sustainable approaches to water delivery and access by departing from project-based, one-off and stand-alone implementation of water systems. It is a six-year multi-country learning initiative that aims to contribute to the realisation of indefinitely sustainable water services delivered at scale . In collaboration with selected national partners, Triple-S will support a paradigm shift at the operational level for decentralised service delivery and will bring about a re-appraisal of the design and planning mechanisms of development assistance to the rural water supply sector. For more information contact: triple-s@irc.nl.
Blog - Water Services That Last
This blog aims to regularly report experiences, stories and questions on rural water supply. It will ask questions and provoke debate on how sustainability of water systems can be improved. It seeks to provide examples and learn from failures. It does not aim to provide ready-made answers; if those would exist, they would win the Nobel Prize for Water, or, more likely, the Silver Bullet Award.
We invite you to contribute your thoughts and stories, to provoke and to question, and to share these debates more widely.
Using bar codes to link data in Burkina Faso
13 Sep 12
IRC’s Amélie Dubé and Kristof Bostoen describe, in a guest post on the Akvo blog, their efforts to track household water use, using unique identifiers and Akvo FLOW, in West Africa.
Back to the River
Check out Tessa Livingstone's disturbing new video on the crisis of water supply. Why, after $360 million of investment do nearly a billion people still lack healthy water? Why do the wells, pumps and pipes, installed lovingly by donors across the world, fail time and time again? And who now has the courage to put it right?
What if...? video
What if resources from all projects in a district were brought together? What if in addition to constructing water systems we also planned and financed for its operation and maintenance? The following story is a fantasy. It is about a fictitious somewhere in the developing world, and what happened to its water supply...
The cost of handpump water supply services in the Sahel
A new IRC- Triple-S/GLOWS/WA-WASH research paper analyses the absolute and relative value of each cost component of a water service (capital investment, operating costs, rehabilitation cost, support costs) and looks into each component cost drivers.
Triple-S Ghana shares baseline report of Three Districts
13 May 13
New baseline study of three Ghanaian districts is now available. The report reveals strengths and gaps of providing sustainable water services in compliance with the Community Water and Sanitation Agency.
Everyone has a story to tell
Triple-S - Water Services that Last is carrying out research into the sustainability of rural water supplies. Please help us by spending a few minutes telling us your recent experience with rural water supply either hopeful or discouraging. You can go to: http://www.waterservicesthatlast.org/Voices/Story-initiative to share your experiences.
Using FLOW in Ghana for monitoring WASH service delivery
24 Apr 12
FLOW, developed by Water for People, is being tested by IRC in three districts in Ghana as part of the Triple-S project. FLOW helps the user assess whether or not WASH facilities are functioning or are on the verge of disrepair. On the AKVO blog you can find more information on how FLOW works and a webinar on IRC's experience. Also check out the WaterHackathon blog where IRC's Nick Dickson is interviewed on FLOW.
Supporting Rural Water Supply
18 Oct 11
This new book offers insights into the sustainability challenge for rural water sectors. Supporting Rural Water Supply takes a critical look and asks why we have been unable to provide a sustainable water service to rural people for so long. What are the critical success factors in the areas where there has been good progress? How can we support the adoption of a service delivery approach to rural water supply – one that moves beyond implementing infrastructure projects to delivering a reliable and indefinite service?
Ensuring rural water services that last: Lessons from a 13-country study
While the problem of poor sustainability - and the threat it poses to achieving the MDGs - may be well recognised, concrete steps for addressing it are considerably less clear. Triple-S, an IRC initiative funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently completed a 13-country study to identify factors that contribute to, or constrain, the delivery of sustainable rural water services at scale.
